S
Safia
Guest
I was wondering if anyone could offer some thoughts or direct me to any pieces on the topic: I’ve been thinking a lot about charity toward neighbor. I live + work in NYC, and it has proven to be a healthy challenge to live and grow as a Catholic here, though one thing that still leaves me stumbling sometimes is the line between judging a person for his/her imperfections and (merely?) recognizing those imperfections. (Perhaps there isn’t a line at all?)
As fallen beings, we will always be imperfect – oh, how we need the Lord’s mercy, forever and ever. We have no right to judge another; we will be judged against the standards we set out. That is clear.
But does ceasing in judgment necessarily entail setting aside and/or ignoring imperfections and focusing on – in some instances, fighting tooth and nail to even see – the image of Christ reflected in a person? Does looking at a person on the subway and noticing, for example, that their dress is immodest and their physical engagement with a partner is not virtuous (per everything that we are taught and try to live), make me judgmental? Is that casting judgment?
Does feeling a sense of pity and/or grief toward that person make me judgmental? Should we be grieved over another’s sins (even as we grieve over our own)? Saints shed tears over sinners, and we are often far from sainthood. It often feels prideful, in some respect, for me to lift up in prayer someone I see – what gives me the right to pray for an increase in virtue for them, when I am so far myself? Ought I think like that?
I’ve been musing over this in my search for virtue, and I’m not sure how to approach the situation.
As fallen beings, we will always be imperfect – oh, how we need the Lord’s mercy, forever and ever. We have no right to judge another; we will be judged against the standards we set out. That is clear.
But does ceasing in judgment necessarily entail setting aside and/or ignoring imperfections and focusing on – in some instances, fighting tooth and nail to even see – the image of Christ reflected in a person? Does looking at a person on the subway and noticing, for example, that their dress is immodest and their physical engagement with a partner is not virtuous (per everything that we are taught and try to live), make me judgmental? Is that casting judgment?
Does feeling a sense of pity and/or grief toward that person make me judgmental? Should we be grieved over another’s sins (even as we grieve over our own)? Saints shed tears over sinners, and we are often far from sainthood. It often feels prideful, in some respect, for me to lift up in prayer someone I see – what gives me the right to pray for an increase in virtue for them, when I am so far myself? Ought I think like that?
I’ve been musing over this in my search for virtue, and I’m not sure how to approach the situation.